Smile
by Explorer of the Unknown
Summary: Noah doesn't smile. He might grin or smirk out of satisfaction from time to time but smile? Not so much. To him there are more than a few reasons as to why smiling really isn't worth the effort. However, there might be one exception to that.


**I do not own Total Drama**

* * *

Noah was not a person to smile by nature. It wasn't as if he simply dislike the concept, there were several reasons as to why he did it only in rare instances.

First of all, the phrase, "It takes more muscles to frown than to smile," was a blatant lie, something made up in order to lift the spirits of someone feeling down. Having read more than a few books over human anatomy Noah knew well that the minimum amount of muscles used to frown was six, four less than what was needed to smile. Having such knowledge allowed Noah to write the saying off as an old wives' tale.

Noah loathed doing any sorts of physical activity and frequently avoided exerting more energy than what was necessary in his day-to-day routines. As such, he opted against smiling in favor of the less strenuous act of frowning.

Next came the type of people Noah often found himself forced into being around. More often than not Noah would mentally express his desire to go deaf after listening to some of the sheer idiocy spouted from some of his fellow Total Drama competitors. Whether it be one of Harold's pointless pieces of trivia that only he seemed to find interesting, Katie and Sadie's constant high pitched squealing, or just about anything that came out of Lindsay's mouth, Noah found no joy in any of it and thus no point in so much as attempting to even fake a smile.

When he was younger, Noah did smile considerably more, usually whenever he completed a task that could test his already large intellect to its lengths. Things such as Sudoku and crossword puzzles Noah as young as seven years old was capable of completing before most, if not all eight of his brothers and sisters. Beating any kind of video game before them, RPGs, platformers, Noah had found it hard not to smile back then.

However, as he grew older and began to learn more, such happiness began to fade. The trick into overcoming the obstacles in those past times was finding the one, well hidden clue or pattern that was the key that led straight to victory. Or at least, they at first seemed to be well hidden. As Noah's knowledge grew, things became more and more obvious, to the point that they might as well have been screaming in his face. Without any kind of real challenge or surprise, Noah was unable to find any excitement. What he found in its place was boredom and as a result, found one more thing that made smiling pointless.

Then Noah met her, and his view on the matter began to change little by little.

Unlike most men, it wasn't her looks that compelled him into seeking her out, it was the mystery. He wasn't so much intrigued by what she could do as much as he was by her herself. She felt empathy and compassion towards everything and everyone, including even the people she outright stated to dislike. She was well aware of the true horrors of the real world, how disgusting humans could be towards one another and their carelessness that was steadily leading to their own destruction. Even so, night and day she continued to hope and to believe that one day things would change for the better.

Such a disposition Noah could not figure out but he wanted to. He had to. This desire filled him with an exhilaration he believed himself incapable of having and found himself confused yet again. Before he could catch himself, thousands of questions about her began to sprout within his mind and he had no idea which answer he should seek first.

What puzzled him even more was how she felt about his feelings.

"You do realize my only intention is to study you don't you?" he asked her. "I'm not asking to be your friend, I'm just trying to find out what I wanna know."

"Yes I'm well aware of that," she replied. "But even so you're interested in me enough to go out of your way to spend more time with me. You, the person who claims to want to do nothing more than read in solitude. Even if it doesn't mean much to do, it means a great deal to me."

She concluded her thought with a warm smile. Unconsciously, Noah smiled in return.

Around her at least, smiling wasn't all bad.

* * *

 **This is a belated contribution to Nawn week, an underrated fanon coupling in my opinion, as well as a surprise gift to my good friend Light of the Dawn. Hope this was able to bring a smile to all who read it.**


End file.
